Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house that was founded
by
Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. The publisher had a reputation for a
pursuit of perfection and elegant taste.[1] It was acquired by Random
House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing
Group.[2] The Knopf publishing house is associated with its borzoi
colophon (shown at right), which was designed by co-founder Blanche
Knopf in 1925.[3]

Knopf was founded in 1915 by
Alfred A. Knopf, Sr.Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. with a $5,000
advance from his father.[3] The first office was located in New York's
Candler Building. The publishing house was officially incorporated in
1918, with Alfred Knopf as president,
Blanche Knopf as vice-president,
and Samuel Knopf as treasurer. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad
regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin
American writers in addition to leading American literary trends.
Samuel Knopf died in 1932. William A. Koshland joined the company in
1934, and worked with the firm for more than fifty years, rising to
take the positions of President and Chairman of the Board. Blanche
became President in 1957 when Alfred became Chairman of the Board, and
worked steadily for the firm until her death in 1966. Alfred Knopf
retired in 1972, becoming chairman emeritus of the firm until his
death in 1984. Alfred Knopf also had a summer home in Purchase, New
York.
Beginning in 1920, Knopf also produced a chapbook, for the purpose of
promoting new books. The
BorzoiBorzoi was published periodically over the
years, the first being a hardback called the
BorzoiBorzoi and sometimes
quarterly as the
BorzoiBorzoi Quarterly.[4] In 1923 Knopf also started
publishing periodicals, beginning with The American Mercury, founded
by H. L. Mencken and George Jean Nathan, which it published through
1934.[5]
Following the Good Neighbor policy,
Blanche Knopf visited South
America in 1942, so the firm could start producing texts from there.
She was one of the first publishers to visit Europe after World War
II. Her trips, and those of other editors, brought in new writers from
Europe, South America, and Asia. Alfred traveled to Brazil in 1961,
which spurred a corresponding interest on his part in South America.
Their son, Alfred "Pat" Jr., was hired on as secretary and trade books
manager after the war.
In a 1957 advertisement in the Atlantic Monthly, Alfred A. Knopf
published the
BorzoiBorzoi Credo. The credo includes a list of what Knopf's
beliefs for publishing including the statement that he never published
an unworthy book. Among a list of beliefs listed is the final one--"I
believe that magazines, movies, television, and radio will never
replace good books."[6]
In 1960
Random House acquired Alfred A. Knopf.[3] It is believed that
the decision to sell was prompted by Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., leaving
Knopf to found his own book company,
Atheneum Books in 1959.[1]
While there have been many notable editors at Knopf there have only
been three editors-in-chief-- Alfred A. Knopf, Sr., Robert Gottlieb
and Sonny Mehta.[3] Other influential editors at Knopf included Harold
Strauss (Japanese literature), Herbert Weinstock (biography of musical
jargon composers),
Judith Jones (culinary texts), as well as Angus
Cameron, Charles Elliott, Gary Fisketjon, Lee Goerner, Ashbel Green,
Carol Brown Janeway, Michael Magzis, Anne McCormick, Nancy Nicholas,
Daniel Okrent, Regina Ryan, Sophie Wilkins, and Vicky Wilson. Knopf
also employed literary scouts to good advantage.[7]
A publisher of hardcover fiction and nonfiction, Knopf's list of
authors includes Albert Camus, John Banville, Carl Bernstein, Robert
Caro, Willa Cather, Julia Child, Bill Clinton, Joan Didion, Bret
Easton Ellis, James Ellroy, Martin Gardner, Lee H. Hamilton, Kazuo
Ishiguro, John Keegan, Anne Rice, Nella Larsen, Jack London, Gabriel
García Márquez, Cormac McCarthy, Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami,
Christopher Paolini, Ezra Pound, Dorothy Richardson, Susan Swan, Anne
Tyler, Andrew Vachss, James D. Watson, and Elinor Wylie. At least 17
Nobel PrizeNobel Prize and 47
Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize winning authors have been published
by Knopf, though they have also passed at times on subsequently
notable books.[8]
Since its founding, Knopf has paid close attention to design and
typography,[9] employing notable designers and typographers including
William Addison Dwiggins, Harry Ford, Steven Heller, Chip Kidd,
Lorraine Louie, Bruce Rogers, Rudolf Ruzicka, and Beatrice Warde.
Knopf books conclude with an unnumbered page titled "A Note on the
Type", which describes the history of the typeface used for the book.
In addition, Knopf books date the year of the book's current printing
on the title page.
Knopf published textbooks until 1988, when Random House's schools and
colleges division was sold to McGraw-Hill.[10]
In 1991, Knopf revived the "Everyman's Library" series, originally
published in England in the early 20th century. This series consists
of classics of world literature in affordable hardcover editions. The
series has grown over the years to include lines of Children's
Classics and Pocket Poets.
Random House was acquired by
BertelsmannBertelsmann in 1998.[3] In late 2008 and
early 2009, the Knopf Publishing Group merged with Doubleday to form
the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.[11]
Random House has been owned
since its 2013 merger of
Penguin GroupPenguin Group by Penguin Random House, a
joint venture between
BertelsmannBertelsmann (53%) and
Pearson PLCPearson PLC (47%).
Many of Knopf's hardcover books are published later as Vintage
paperbacks.
Vintage Books is a sister imprint of Random House.
In 2015, Knopf celebrated its 100th Anniversary by publishing a
commemorative book, Alfred A. Knopf, 1915-2015: A Century of
Publishing.[12]
Awards[edit]